When a man has children, the first thing he has to learn is that he is not the boss of the house. I am certainly not the boss of my house. There is no wisdom I can give new fathers more profound than what I have just said: you are not the boss of the house.
When one of the children comes to you and says, “ Dad, can I go explore the Upper Nile?” your answer must be “ Go and ask your mother”.
Only once did I make the great permission mistake.
One of the children came to me and said, “Dad, can I go out and play?”
“ Sure”, I replied. “I don’t see why not”.
That was the last time I couldn’t see why not. My wife came in and said, “Did you let that child go out?”
“ Yeah”, I said.
“Well, next time check with me. He’s being punished.”
From that day on I knew my place; and whenever a child starts to say, “ Dad, can I...” even though it is my name, I always reply, “
What did your mother say?”
And even if the child tells me that she got permission, I still say, “ Very fine. Just bring me a note from your mother. It doesn’t have to be notarized. A simple signature and date will do.”
Ironically, even though the father is not the boss of the house, the mother will try to use him as a threat: “ When your father comes home, he’s going to spank you. And this time I’m not going to stop him”.
“Even though”, underlined in the text, gives an idea of
